“Can’t believe this cause has a reason, can’t believe this song has to be sung.” Former Colts player Hunter Smith and his band record a powerful song of hope as part of an IndyStar and USA TODAY Network project on child trafficking project.
Mykal McEldowney & Stephen Beard/IndyStar

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A girl plays in a village in the hill country in northern Thailand. Traffickers have for years exploited young adults and children from Thailand's poor rural villages.(Photo: Tim Swarens/IndyStar)Buy Photo

More than 1 million children, according to the International Labour Organization, are exploited each year in the commercial sex trade. IndyStar columnist Tim Swarens, through the support of a Society of Professional Journalists fellowship, spent more than a year investigating a lucrative business where children are abused with low risk to buyers or traffickers, despite tougher laws and heightened international awareness of the scourge. Google, Eli Lilly and Co., and Indiana Wesleyan University provided additional support for this project.

The first of 10 columns in the EXPLOITED series, which explores the cultural and economic forces that contribute to commercial sexual exploitation, will be posted Jan. 30.

When I asked Hunter Smith, the former Indianapolis Colt and University of Notre Dame punter, if he would write and record a song for a child trafficking project I was working on, he immediately said yes.

And I dug deeper into the commercial sexual exploitation of children, here and around the world. The EXPLOITED project, funded by a grant from the Society of Professional Journalists, involved traveling more than 92,000 miles to report on five continents about a business that treats children like a commodity.

Today, we're thrilled to share with you the Hunter Smith Band's creation, "Take You Home." It's a song that recognizes the depravity of child trafficking, a business in which more than 1 million children a year are exploited in the commercial sex trade.

But it's also a song about hope. A song that speaks to the work many people around the world are doing to ensure that children aren't forgotten in the dark places of exploitation.

The 10-part EXPLOITED series also balances the need to closely examine the ugly realities in which children are bought and sold for sex with a look at the inspiring work many are doing to protect, rescue and restore kids in dire need.

Please listen to and share the "Take You Home" video on your social media platforms to help raise awareness about the realities of child trafficking.

And please read and share these columns and other content in the EXPLOITED project: